This low-carb recipe was a result of some wishful thinking earlier today.You know those nice cheese straws they sometimes give you in restaurants instead of bread, to nibble on while you sip your wine and try to decide what to have for dinner?
I was sitting in my garden with a nice glass of red, enjoying the fact that I made it through another week, and suddenly had a real craving for those cheese straws.
So I tried to make some and amazingly, they turned out perfect the first time round. Usually I spend some time fine-tuning my low-carb recipes before I publish them, but these low-carb cheese straws were really good straight away!
Perfect low-carb snack, and a great companion for olives and red wine, plus perhaps more cheese.
Low-carb cheese straws – ingredients
- 1 cup (90g / 3oz) ground almonds
- 1/2 cup (65g / 2oz) ground flaxseeds
- 1 cup (90g / 3oz) grated cheddar
- 1 tbsp psyllium husks – optional, but really helps to improve the texture
- 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp each of dried oregano and dried rosemary
(Herbs are optional, but they do make it taste nicer. Sage or thyme would also work well.) - 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Low-carb cheese straws – method
- Combine all the dry ingredients together, add grated cheese and mix thoroughly together
- Lightly beat eggs and put a little bit (about 1 tsp) in a separate bowl, for brushing the dough later
- Add beaten eggs and olive oil to your dry ingredients and mix well
- Line a baking tray with baking parchment
- Lay out your mixture on top of the paper and roll it out thinly, using your hands or a spoon. It will be a bit sticky at this point so I just tend to use my hands. Aim to roll it out to about 3-5mm thick.
- Brush the top of the dough with the remains of your beaten egg
- Bake on 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5 for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy
- Take out of the oven and cut into thin vertical strips
- Leave to cool completely, cheese straws will get much nicer and more crispy once cooled!
Low-carb cheese straws – nutritional information
- For the total amounts listed above: 1800 cal, 12g net carbs, 66g protein, 154g fat, 28g fibre
- I made 60 small straws (about 1cm wide and 10cm long) from the amounts listed above. Per 1 straw: 30 cal, 0.2g net carbs, 1.1g protein, 2.6g fat, 0.5g fibre.
Recommended Low-Carb Cookbooks
Do you need more recipes for low-carb biscuits, crackers and bread?
Check out these great low-carb cookbooks.
where do you buy psyllium husks
Hi Kathy, the easiest way is to get them online, for example, on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mj4jHq
Just made these and they are great, really crispy and tasty, and really easy too. I added a bit of parmesean as well as the cheddar for extra cheesyness!
Thank you Niki 🙂 I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for sharing the tip about parmesan – great idea!
When you say psyllium husk, do you mean the husk or the powder from the husk?
I made a bread using the husk and it felt like I was eating sand.
Hi Donna
Sorry to hear your bread didn’t turn out well. I tend to use the actual husks, but not as the main ingredient – usually add just 1-2 tbsp to improve texture / reduce crumbliness factor. If using more than that, you would need to increase the amount of moisture used, as they do guzzle up a lot of moisture.
For example, this bread recipe uses 1/2 cup of psyllium husks, but this is compensated by 6 eggs, olive oil and 1 whole cup of water. I don’t know what recipe you used for your bread, but I suggest you could try adding more moisture and fat – perhaps increase the number of eggs or add some cream or almond milk.
Anyway – if you try making the cheese straws recipe on this page, you should be safe as is, as it only includes 1 tbsp psyllium husks. You could also substitute with 1/4 tsp xanthan gum. Good luck!